Sunday 24 February 2013

Freezing cold day...



Another bitterly cold day with the wind chill making it feel even colder, started off with this group and then moved on to see a flock of over 50 shelduck this is a common roost that I started watching last year when the numbers were even bigger.

Still got a good sized group of whoopers hanging around and lots of distant pintail and pochard.
pictures heavily cropped and just for the record.


As I was watching these from a distance I had a Tawny owl constantly calling could not spot it but at 11.30 in the morning it was a bit unusual.
Finished off with a spot the GSW competition.
Things are really starting to move in the valley with huge bird numbers coming in on a daily basis, big numbers of tufted duck,teal and wigeon.


Saturday 23 February 2013

Waders at last....



 Freezing cold day but it was well worth it. Bewicks and whoopers showing well but the real highlight was the mass influx of waders.Huge numbers of Dunlin, Ruff, Lapwing,Curlew, Golden Plovers, Shelduck, Gadwall,Wigeon,Teal, and a massive gull roost building up.





Will be back out tomorrow....


Friday 22 February 2013

View from the living room.

Returning to my home patch as I approached the bridge at Bubwith I could not help but notice a huge flock of Lapwing over the river, keen to see what had spooked them I parked up and wandered up to the bridge, nothing obvious as to what had disturbed them but I did see a flock of about 80-90 Dunlin. The Lapwing were not at all happy sharing the mudflats with there smaller visitors and several tussles broke out. It was also good to see 4-5 Curlew, at one point this week I thought I had seen an early Whimbrel but after a quick call to AWBIRDER I decided maybe it was Curlew after all. Redshank (20) were also busy in the newly exposed mudflats.

As I returned home I could see across the ings from my living room window and noted Whooper swan, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail ,Greylags, Canada geese, Mallard, Tufted ,Mute swan and a distant Great crested grebe.







Gargeney hide still out of bounds due to floods if you are coming over this weekend but GS hide is ok.

Thursday 21 February 2013

Waxxies in York

Had to go to York anyway on Tuesday so went via Beckfield lane to see that the waxwing population was upto about 90+ birds locals were bemused by all the interest.









Tuesday 19 February 2013

Not bad for two days on the patch.

Two days wandering around the local patch and a quick waxwing mercy dash to York, Resulted in the following list.



barn owl
bewick swan
black headed gull
blackbird
bullfinch
buzzard
canada goose
chaffinch
coal tit
collared dove
common gull
coot
cormorant

corn bunting
crow
curlew
dunlin
dunnock
egyptian goose
fieldfare
gadwal
goldcrest
golden eye
golden plover
goldfinch
great crested grebe
great tit
greenfinch
grey heron
grey lag goose
grey partridge
grey wagtail
herring gull
house sparrow
jackdaw
jay
kestrel
kingfisher
little grebe
lapwing
lesser black backed gull
long tailed tit
magpie
mallard
marsh harrier
marsh tit
meadow pipit
mistle thrush
moorehen
mute swan


oyster catcher
pheasant
pintail
pied wagtail
pochard
red leg partridge
redwing
robin
rook
ruff
shelduck
siskin

skylark
snipe
song thrush
starling
teal
tree creeper
tree sparrow
tufted duck
waxwing

white fronted goose
whooper swan
wigeon
willow tit
wood pigeon
wren
yellow hammer
 
I make that 78 but I am sure I have missed a few. more details and pics to follow.
 
 

Sunday 17 February 2013

Back to Basics..

Had a trip around a new patch of water today and made the decision to just take pics of whatever came into view. Not long before I was watching not one not two but three Buzzards calling above but so high up a picture was out of the question.

Loads of Gadwal but all too out of reach and then spent 10 minutes watching these two knocking the stuffing out of each other.

Rubbish pic but just for the record and all that.
 Had some cracking Goldeneye but again too distant for a decent pic.

 Tufted numbers were good and 100's of coots.


Great weather and light and as i have a few days off this week I will be back out tomorrow for more.

Thanks for viewing.


Saturday 16 February 2013

Man Flu!!!!!

After several days of bad weather work issues and the dreaded manflu!!!!! (more on that later) i finally feel normal enough to get back on the wonderweb!!

Obviously only the male followers of this blog will appreciate the near death experience that is man flu! if only the other half of the species realized what we have to go through its just so unfair to us males.

Anyway after dusting of the keyboard i thought it as only fair that i get back to my ramblings about all things LDV.

Started off today with a wonder around the local patch post snow,ice and fog and was not disappointed with a very healthy fieldfare flock at least 30 birds then moved onto a mixed bag of finches and sparrows that included Reed bunting,Chaffinch,YellowHammer,Wren,Robin, Green finch.

Green finch is rapidly becoming a bit of a rare bird around here,



Yes! not a bird but i thought it helps me think that spring is on its way!!.

There is a marsh tit in here if you look hard enough.
And finally in the search for a late evening Barn Owl i stumbled across these two! also had a good size flock of whoopers and bewicks still around.

Sadly had to drive across York this afternoon and when I saw all the 500mm lenses I thought Kate Middleton was on her way, turned out to be 30-40 waxwings!!!
More to follow tomorrow. Promise.

Monday 4 February 2013

I don't like Mondays..or do I?

Had an interesting drive home today in very high winds rubbish light and driving freezing rain but managed to bag these.








Loads of shelduck and a few gadwall.